dsl-dpkg.dsl is bloated

Forum: Apt-get
Topic: dsl-dpkg.dsl is bloated
started by: odradek

Posted by odradek on Aug. 12 2006,22:41

Hi, I found that the dsl-dpkg.dsl package comes with a lot of extra baggage. There is almost 6MB of stuff in /var/lib/dpkg. Some of it not useful, like the md5s in /var/lib/dpkg/info. Other stuff is potentially useful but problematic -- I could see it could be useful to have a list of the deb packages that are already installed in a base dsl installation, so that the dependency checking would work when I try to grab more packages with apt-get -- but the packages listed in here don't really reflect the ones that came with my version of dsl (3.0.1)

For example, to grab the "unzip" package, I have to do

sudo apt-get remove unzip
sudo apt-get install unzip

because /var/lib/dpkg/status that came with dsl-dpkg.dsl says the unzip package is already installed, although in fact it isn't installed on my machine.

Just wanted to share this, thanks.

Posted by Del on Aug. 13 2006,03:59

DSL ships with a version of zip built into busybox. By having zip in the dpkg database you can install debs that depend on zip without them breaking (since the zip deb isn't actually there). Also, gnu-utils.dsl contains the correct zip which replaces the crappy unzip that exists in the busybox binary. If you install gnu-utils.dsl then the dpkg database better matches what's actually installed.

Posted by odradek on Aug. 13 2006,17:03

There are other inconsistencies between the dpkg database and the packages found in dsl; I just picked unzip as an example.

I'm working on a remaster and just thought I would point out that this package comes with a lot of data files that I would consider extraneous. If its not a concern to you thats fine, as for me I'm planning to clean this dir up so I can put that space to better use!

Posted by Del on Aug. 13 2006,22:05

Indeed, zip/unzip was used as an example. I imagine there are several instances where the dpkg database is set up to match assorted mydsl packages (though I don't know for sure).

Posted by mikshaw on Aug. 13 2006,22:22

I don't think dpkg was configured with mydsl in mind at all, as mydsl has nothing to do with debian packages and in many cases is incompatible with them. It's my guess is odradek is right about it just being filled with unneeded data from whatever system it was originally installed on.